In the Semitic faiths, the Judeo-Christian concept of "God" is a largely unexplained Supreme divinity living in Heaven. There are sub-servient, duty-bound Angels and Messiahs invoked from time to time to uplift Human souls. Depending on the factional tenets, the Messianic 'event' is periodic (one or many Messiahs) or one apocalyptic colossus (Armageddon) culminating in the presiding Messiah screening Good from Evil. Human creations or souls are sinners to be 'saved' only by the grace of God, through the prayers and acceptance of the Messiah and the message. They need to follow the teachings of the Messiah as a solution to the ills they are enduring. Such saved Souls are to be rewarded with an entry into the choice world of the God on a judgment day or punished appropriately for not following the commands. The human soul will never reach the status of a Divine Spirit nor merge with Him.

These faiths often propound Monotheism, but in reality many of them practice Ditheism; that is belief in one Supreme Being represented symbolically and also in a Messiah often worthy of additional worship. Many of the followers, while praying to the Divine and His Messiah ended up praying to the Holy Spirit, the Angels and many Saints and also offered this prayers to several symbols, icons and books. While they called these various forms as "Icons", they often decried the Holy Figurines that Hindus worship as "Idols" which clearly shows a lack of understanding.

Many ancient cultures of Europe, Greeks, Druids, Egyptians, Aztecs, Mayans and other Native Americans and African faiths believed in a Supreme spirit and also in many individual spirits to govern the Natural Forces. They also believed that humans, by repeated births and good deeds, ascend to the levels of Divine or as gods of the natural forces. This concept is also seen in the ancient faiths of Persia such as Zoroastrianism and the pre-Zoroastrian faiths, which are closer to Hindu beliefs. So, the variation is only in the way one perceives the others.

While analyzing the concepts of the Faiths, beliefs and traditions of the West, with all our ignorance, one should not get the idea that any one path is superior to the other or that another person's faith should be ignored. Each of them may be suitable for the community for which it was established. One should understand one's own faith and accept the traditions as it is taught. There is no need to be apologetic and there is no need to modify ones own belief to be acceptable to the traditions of others.